Photoluminescence from single silicon quantum dots excited via surface plasmon polaritons

Single dot spectroscopy of Si quantum dots (QDs) was performed by using surface plasmon polariton (SPP)-mediated excitation in the attenuated total reflection geometry with a MgF2/Ag film on the base of a prism. Thanks to the 16 times enhancement of the incident electric field and very small background signal, PL from single Si QDs was observed clearly. This proves the usefulness of the technique for the detection of inherently weak emission of Si QDs.